Not a great start for the new man… June 19, 2017

Speaking of our glorious new leader….I can’t help smiling at how the camaraderie of the Varadkar leadership contest has wobbled off the rails at a rapid rate of knots. For hardly a week has passed by and he now Taoiseach and already there are murmurs of alienation and hostility in regard to the Attorney General being appointed to the Court of Appeal.

However, a number of backbenchers told The Irish Times on Saturday that solidarity on the issue could break on Tuesday after Mr Varadkar announces minister of State appointments.

“Nobody will challenge Leo until the jobs are handed out,” said a backbench TD.

“But there will be many disappointed people bypassed for jobs who may feel they have nothing to lose and express their anger at the controversy after Tuesday.”

Hmmm… not quite standing on principle so, those disappointed people.

As to the proximate issue, well another fine mess that Fine Gael has landed itself in in regard to matters judicial (and policin). One has to really wonder how unreflective they are of a broader public mood in relation to these matters. Because for a party of ‘law and order’ – supposedly, they seem almost indifferent to perceptions. Perhaps the attitude is that they ‘own’ the issue and therefore their bona fides are beyond reproach. A mistake, that.